# How to drop a database in PostgreSQL

> Execute the DROP DATABASE command from psql while dropdb command from the command prompt to remove/drop any specific PostgreSQL database.

When a **PostgreSQL** database is no longer needed, we can delete/drop it using **SQL SHELL, command prompt,** and **pgAdmin**. To do that, **PostgreSQL** provides a couple of commands/statements such as **DROP DATABASE** and **dropdb**. So, let’s learn how to drop/delete a specific database in PostgreSQL.

 **How to drop/delete a PostgreSQL database using SQL SHELL?**

The **DROP DATABASE** command can be executed from the **SQL SHELL** to drop/delete a **PostgreSQL** database. The **DROP DATABASE** statement deletes the catalogs and directory associated with that database. Here is the basic syntax of the **DROP DATABASE** statement:
    
    
    DROP DATABASE [IF EXISTS] dbname;

Let’s understand the above-given command step-by-step:

\- **DROP DATABASE** is a command to delete a specific **PostgreSQL** database.

\- If the specified database does not exist, the **IF EXISTS** parameter will issue a notice rather than throwing an error.

\- **dbname** is the database to be deleted.

Let’s execute the **“\l”** command to check the list of all the available databases:

Let’s assume we need to drop a database named **“example”** using psql. To do so, we will execute the following command:
    
    
    DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS example;

The above command will serve the following functionalities:

\- **testdb** is a database name.

\- **IF EXISTS** will check the existence of the example.

\- **DROP DATABASE** will delete the given database, i.e. example.

The above snippet verified that the database named “example” has been deleted successfully.

Let’s execute the **DROP DATABASE** command one more time to remove the same database i.e. example:
    
    
    DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS example;

This time the **DROP DATABASE** command issued a notice that the “example” database doesn’t exist.

 **How to drop/delete a PostgreSQL database using Command Prompt?**

In Postgres, the **dropdb** command can be executed from the command prompt(cmd) to delete any specific database. The **dropdb** command will have the following syntax:

dropdb [parameter/option] dbname

Here is the detailed explanation of the above snippet:

\- **dropdb** is a command that drops/deletes a database.

\- **parameters/options** are the command-line arguments that the **dropdb** command can accept.

\- **dbname** is the database name to be deleted.

Below is a list of parameters that **dropdb** command can accept:

 **–help**

It is used to get help regarding the dropdb command.

 **-if exists**

It issues a notice rather than throwing an error if the given database doesn’t exist.

 **-e**

It is used to display the commands to be sent to the server

 **-i**

It shows a verification prompt before deletion.

 **-V**

It shows the dropdb’s version.

 **-h**

It is used to specify the host name for the server’s machine.

 **-U**

It is used to specify the user name to connect with.

 **-p**

It is used to specify the port on which the server listens for the connections.

 **maintenance db-=dbname**

It takes the name of the connected database to remove that specific database.

 **-w**

Use -w option if you don’t want to prompt a password for the **dropdb**.

 **-W**

It is used to prompt a password for the dropdb command.

Let’s follow the below steps to delete a database named **“exampledb”** using the **dropdb** command:

 **Step 1: Access Postgres**

Firstly, access the **bin** directory of the **PostgreSQL** by using the cd command followed by the complete path:
    
    
    C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\14\bin

 **Step 2: Execute dropdb command**

Let’s execute the **dropdb** command from the command prompt to remove a database named “exampledb”:
    
    
    dropdb -U postgres exampledb

When you execute the above mentioned command, it will ask you to enter a password. Once you provide the appropriate password then the **dropdb** command will delete the database named “exampledb” connected to the user named postgres.

 **How to drop/delete a PostgreSQL database using pgAdmin?**

You can drop a PostgreSQL database using a GUI i.e. pgAdmin. Follow the below-given steps to learn how to drop a Postgres database using pgAdmin:

 **Step 1: select database**

Open the **pgAdmin** and pick the database you want to drop:

 **Step 2: drop database**

Right click on the desired database and select the “Delete/Drop” option to drop the particular database:

 **Step 3: Confirmation**

A confirmation notification will appear once you click on the “Delete/Drop” option:

Clicking on the “Yes” button will drop the selected database.

 **Conclusion**

In **PostgreSQL** , **DROP DATABASE** and **dropdb** commands are used to delete a specific database. You can execute the **DROP DATABASE** command from psql while **dropdb** command from the command prompt to remove/drop a database. Moreover, a PostgreSQL database can be deleted using **pgAdmin**. This write-up explained the different ways to drop a PostgreSQL database.

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